Altel eyes 300,000 subscribers by end-2014

Altel Communications, which is a subsidiary of Puncak Semangat, has reportedly said it is aiming to attract 300,000 active subscribers by the end of this year, according to the Malaysian Reserve. With the cellco’s chief operating officer (COO) Rizwal Mohd Ain confirming that Altel currently has 150,000 subscribers, surpassing its self-imposed target of 100,000 by August 2014, the executive was cited as saying: ‘With the kind of growth that we have achieved just after a year of the launch of our pre-paid service, we are looking to close an additional 150,000 subscribers by year-end. The company’s new target of active subscribers is 300,000 by December 2014.’

Rizwal also noted that Altel has now spent around MYR250 million (USD79 million) on the rollout and development of its infrastructure to date, with another MYR250 million expected to be invested in 2015. Meanwhile, although the company is said to have the capacity to achieve its goals, it is understood to be actively seeking partners to share facilities and infrastructure with a view to reducing costs. To that end, it is reportedly working together with Celcom Axiata, with Rizwal noting: ‘Altel has made certain agreements with Celcom where we actually share infrastructure, pull spectrum and look at avenues on how we can roll out our coverage and also offer better services while maintaining a focus on spending efficiencies.’

Looking ahead, Altel is now expecting to introduce post-paid tariffs in November 2014.